15 Colombian Soldiers Sentenced in
Extrajudicial Killings
By VOA News -
Colombian prosecutors say a judge has
sentenced 15 soldiers to as many as 30 years
in prison for killing two brothers falsely
identified as rebels killed in combat.
Officials say a captain, three subordinates
and six enlisted men received 30-year terms
for planning or taking part in the May 2006
killings in Medellin, Colombia's second
largest city.
Five soldiers were also sentenced to four
years each for helping to cover up the
crime.
The brothers, Arley and Yon Cardona, worked
as food vendors in Medellin and disappeared
on May 25, 2006 when returning from a
delivery. Their bodies were found the next
day in a morgue and identified as
guerrillas.
Human rights groups say the army has
regularly executed civilians and passed them
off as slain guerrillas to inflate their
tallies of defeated enemy fighters.
U.N. Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial
Executions Philip Alston, a top United
Nations human rights expert, recently
described the practice as "cold-blooded
pre-meditated murder for profit," following
a 10-day investigation in June.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe last year
fired at least two dozen army officers,
including three generals, in connection with
the widening scandal. The country's top army
commander General Mario Montoya also
resigned.
The practice was uncovered last October when
the bodies of 19 young men who had
disappeared from a poor Bogota suburb were
discovered in mass graves in the country's
northeast. The civilians were originally
declared to be rebels killed during
fighting.
Some information for this report was
provided by AFP, AP.
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